Written by Noah Baustin Published Sep. 07, 2023 • 6:15am - San Francisco Standard
Drew McEwing’s team needed to dive into frigid water and tunnel into the muddy floor of the San Francisco Bay to rescue a sunken barge.
Corrosion had worn holes into the old ship’s deck, and on one unlucky day, the current likely pushed the boat below Pier 70 during low tide. As the tide rose, the barge was pinned below the pier, allowing water to rush in through the deck holes, sending the vessel to the bay floor.
The barge represented a hidden threat, sitting just below the waves at high tide, putting ships approaching the pier at risk of hitting it.
After a pier worker spied the tip of the sunken ship sticking out of the surface, McEwing’s crew was called in one day in February 2022. He leads the Port of San Francisco dive team, a three-person squad that deploys along the city’s coastline to reinforce aging piers, cut down abandoned docks and, occasionally, haul wrecks from the seafloor.
McEwing and his crew dove into the water and with a giant vacuum-like tube slung over their shoulders, they burrowed into the mud where the barge had settled. As they went, they pulled straps around the wounded vessel so a crane could haul it to the surface.
These Divers Repair San Francisco’s Aging Piers—and, Occasionally, Haul Wrecks From the Seafloor
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Armadillo catching a ball